A clearing in a forest

A clearing is a bit of a misnomer, considering that the 'clearing' I'm in now was actually a crater, probably a hundred or so feet in diameter. I grunt in pain, sitting up as I feel discomfort...everywhere. I guess I should have expected that, but I thought that the falling out of the sky was my soul, not me. I stand, only now noticing two huge black feathery wings attached to my back, each easily five or six feet long. The weight threw off my balance, but after taking a few steps, I managed to get the hang of it, at least for the most part.

I shouldn't be getting used to it this early, right?

I slowly climbed out of the crater, taking my time from the pain. Having a different center of gravity was weird, but climbing required me to lean forward anyway, so it wasn't too hard. Once I got out, I tried to flex my wings a bit, feeling odd with the relatively sudden extension of my back muscles. I sat down, my legs hanging into the crater. The forest was...really green. It'd been a while since I'd been this deep in a forest, and apparently it was for good reason, as I looked around at the fractured tree trunks and other debris in the area.

"This is still a lot to take in..." I held my head in my hands, rubbing my temples. "I'm...hopefully, at least, a nephilim...in another world...after...I don't even know what happened in the past day to get me here..." My voice had also changed, becoming a tad higher pitched and more accurately defined as baritone, as opposed to a middling I used to be between that and bass.

Suddenly, a thought appeared in my head. "...status?" Nothing happened. "Stats? Properties?" Still nothing. I fell back, feeling a momentary pain from landing on my wings. "Well that's great. I don't even know what my stats are, or what spells I have, or anything!..." I sigh.

"Hurry up, Kara!"

"Slow down! It's not like it's going to go anywhere!"

I briefly panic, hearing voices coming from the brush behind me. "Shit, uh...polymorph!" I quickly feel the wings retreat into my back, and while I don't have a clue what I actually look like, I can feel something receding into my head and my insides seem to shift a bit.

"Kara, there's someone here!" I spot a young boy, not even a teenager, as he emerges from the trees, pointing at me as he looks back at this Kara.

A few moments later, an older girl, somewhere in her mid to late teens I guess, come out behind him. "Connor, I told you not to run off like that!" She catches a look at you, and a moment of panic comes to her eye. "I'm so sorry sir, he's just so excited for the falling star."

"It's, okay. It's not every day you get to see something like this." I sit up, turning so I can get a better look at them. The boy, Connor, has a look of excitement on his face as he runs up to you. Glad that saying 'polymorph' worked. Is that how spells work in this world?

"Did you see the star? Kara always says to make a wish on a star, so I want to make sure my wish will come true!" The blonde kid nearly rushes past you and into the pit, but stops himself as he looks closer for his 'star'.

Am I...ugh, I'm not gonna guarantee anything from this. "And what's your wish?" Focusing on him, you actually learn something you weren't expecting, especially with everything else on your mind. God's Eye activates, and you see this kid Connor's 'sheet', if you could call it that. It's not dissimilar from the previous 'sheets' you saw of the various heroes and monsters of the world. He doesn't have a class, but you do gain some valuable information in what would be considered normal stats for a kid.

"I wanna have a pet dragon! That way, I can kill the demon king and save the world!" He beams up at me.

"Woah, hold your horses, kid." I rustle his hair. "Raising a dragon is a lot." Even if I don't exactly know about it. I share a look with his...sister? friend?

She shakes her head, chuckling. "He's been having this fantasy for a year, now."

"What about you, mister? What are you gonna wish for?" His hands land on my knee.

"Connor! You can't just ask random strangers that!"

You raise you hand, dismissing her concern. "It's fine, it's fine. I... I want to be able to see the Hero and the rest of the...Saintesses." For a moment, I forgot what their group was called.

"Really! Maybe when I get my pet dragon I can introduce you!" Connor begins to climb down into the pit.

"Be careful, Connor!" Kara rushes over, her knee-length skirt billowing behind her. She stands next to you, panting slightly. "I'm sorry again. He gets a bit ahead of himself when he's excited."

"He's a kid. If he didn't get excited for something like this, I'd be worried." I chuckle, rubbing the back of my head as I look toward the descending Connor. "Is it true that you get to wish on a falling star?"

"Not really, at least I don't think so. Somehow he got it in his head that a falling star is more likely to grant a wish than a shooting star..." She sighs, sitting down a few feet away from you. "Speaking of...you...wouldn't happen to know anything about this 'falling star', would you?" She looks at you questioningly as she brushes a blond lock out of her face.

I glance to the crater nervously. "W-what do you mean?"

She gazes over the 'clearing'. "Well, I don't know a lot about it, but the last time word of a 'falling star' came arou-" She stops suddenly, her eyes wide. "Connor, hornets!" She slides off the side, now standing precariously in the edge of the crater.

I follow her gaze, spotting a small handful of...something, flying not far away, but getting closer fast. I slide off the side as well, not hesitating to slide down the incline toward the defenseless child. I vaguely remembered the Hornet Empress from Ariel's briefing, but I had no idea how powerful these 'Killer Hornets' were. Hopefully their power was in numbers, since I still had no idea how powerful I was, either. Unfortunately, I was acutely aware of the fact that I'd have to properly reveal myself to these two if I wanted to protect them. "Polymorph!" I immediately felt something spring out of my head as my wings spread further. My descent was slowed, so I started running, eventually starting to glide down Connor, who was too busy trying to rapidly climb back up to notice me.

I lifted the surprised boy into the air and he began flailing around. "Let go of me!"

"Connor, stop it! I'm trying to help!" Albeit awkwardly, you shift your wings to provide lift, and gradually turn back toward Kara, another look of shock on her face as she rapidly glances between you and the hornets. Relying on what's hopefully instinct, I flap my wings to reach high enough to crash-land (for the second time today, apparently) a few trees away from Kara, wrapping my wings around Connor to protect him from the impact.

Moments later, Kara runs up. "Connor! Connor, are you okay!" She nearly rips my wings off from around him and hugs him tight, lifting him from my grasp. "Come on, we need to run!" They both stand, and she hesitates for a moment, looking to me before running away. I sat up, looking toward them as buzzing began to fill my ears.

"After them!"

Edit: changed where Connor's stats are mentioned, because I'm gonna be pretty loosey-goosey on stats and I don't want to deal with messing with it in detail until things get more 'concrete'.